Aided by a primetime AFC Conference Championship, CBS's average overall viewership and average for adults 25-54 for the 2008-9 season is now above the level of the 2007-8 season through 17 weeks (1/18/09). CBS also narrowed its declines in the other demo categories and seems poised to go positive across the board very soon.

ABC and the CW showed some improvement since last week as well. Fox took a hit, I believe because they didn't get the primetime conference championship like last year. NBC went the other direction, losing ground vs. last season.

Univision is up across the board vs. last season as is MyNetworkTV (MNT). They're up drastically over last season, thanks mainly to the addition of Friday Night Smackdown!. Note just their numbers, because their bars are truncated. The scale for the other networks would be useless if I adjusted the scale for them.

Our chart shows broadcast network prime-time season to date average prime-time viewership for the 2008-9 season compared to the 2007-8 season. Click the image for a full sized chart.